5 reasons crawling is the ultimate compound move

Crawling isn’t just reserved for babies and Saturday nights out. The benefits of stripping back our movements to the very basics can surprise us.

Positions like a plank have us shaking because we’re so used to office chairs and memory foam mattresses.

Try holding a squat for more than a minute and feel the burn. Yet this is a pose our cavemen ancestors would’ve held for hours while picking berries, or eating lunch.

We simplify our meals with organic produce, topped with nuts rather than salt, olive oil instead of ketchup, and protein shakes to punch in the nutrients we need as quick as we can.

So here’s a few reasons every man should do the same with their workouts. Now get on all fours!

Boost coordination

A study into the world’s most demanding sports put Gymnastics at the top because it requires strength, flexibility and coordination which trumps a footballers speed and agility on the fitness scale.

Crawling builds co-ordination between upper and lower body with all four limbs and your chest integral to the movement.

Build core stability

Crawling comprises the movements of a plank, mountain climbers, and press ups. Your core is holding the body in place while your limbs pull you forward.

Improve posture

Our bodies are used to the hunched over posture we’ve allowed out bodies to get used to. The Editor of British GQ once wrote in a fore-letter that men should stand as if they’d just had a glass of iced water thrown down their neck.

Crawling employs the lower back muscles in a natural and functional way. I’m not going to say forget deadlifts… but you get the idea.

Comfort outside the comfort zone

It’s not natural in this day and age. We’re used to hunching over our keyboards and dinner plates. Quite frankly very little of our lives today resemble the natural functions of the human body. Hunting, climbing, digging, squatting down to pick berries.

But if you’re comfortable coordinating your muscles to drag yourself along the ground, you shouldn’t have a problem shifting those weights in upright or seated positions.

Build strength and mobility

As with any complex movement, the exercise puts multiple demands on a person’s fitness.